On March 5th and 6th the marijuana situation will be heading to court where a groundbreaking court decision last year will be called into question. In April 2011 it was determined that Canada's marijuana laws were unconstitutional on the grounds that medicinal marijuana is a right and the government has effectively prohibited it. The federal government was tasked with fixing the problem within 90 days or marijuana would have to be legalized across the board, they eventually got an extension to that deadline but it's going to end soon.

It's difficult to say exactly what is going to be discussed in this hearing, but it can hardly skim over the important details now that they've been ruled as unconstitutional.

One thing we do know is going to be discussed off to the side is Stephen Harper's Bill C-10, the successor of Bill S-10 and C-15. The bill was recently approved and is heading to the house of commons in an attempt to be passed. It's not quite as harsh as the former bills, but still makes it quite clear that the government intends to keep fighting this to the bitter end. It should also be noted that the liberals proposed 17 changes total to the bill, every proposition was refused. One notable proposition was to up the amount of marijuana plants required to be charged with trafficking from 6 to 20, it makes sense, nobody is going to be able to live off of a 6 plant cycle.

Seriously, what goverment would have such disrespect and lack of dignity to pass something like this? If my goverment were to do such a thing, I would leave the country.

You do not compromise with criminals, you arrest them. Such scum in humanity should be severly punished.

Holy fuck.

Non-pot smoker here. Never have, never will, don't even like being around it. Find it smelly and a bit stupid (not that the people that smoke it are inherently stupid. Plenty of smart people do stupid things.)

I find it absolutely ridiculous that you seem to hold pot smokers on the same level as burglars, rapists, and murderers.

What? You mean dealers? HAH. No.

You think the same people will be dealing? It'll be regulated. The money won't go to the dealers. So, obviously, you feel that people that simply smoke pot are terrible criminals.

Because laws ALWAYS align with morality, right? Because the laws COULDN'T be severely outdated, right? That war on drugs- totally not pointless, right?

Don't care at all. From the studies I'v heard (but not read), Marijuana is even less dangerous than alcohol, and the argument for it being a "gateway drug" can be made for alcohol as well (in fact the time I have tried illegal drugs I'v been drunk out of my mind, and I would never consider them otherwise), but still, I really don't care.Why don't I care? Because the drug is, in my opinion, not my cup of tea. Still, making it legal will probably reduce A: Tax-money spent on having police raid, search, arrest and process those that deal in it.B: Money going into the pockets of the organized crime-syndicates.

I find it absolutely ridiculous that you seem to hold pot smokers on the same level as burglars, rapists, and murderers.

What? You mean dealers? HAH. No.

You think the same people will be dealing? It'll be regulated. The money won't go to the dealers. So, obviously, you feel that people that simply smoke pot are terrible criminals.

Because laws ALWAYS align with morality, right? Because the laws COULDN'T be severely outdated, right? That war on drugs- totally not pointless, right?

Stop being so naive.

Basically what I meant by my remark on homosexuality.

Really, if you haven't smoked pot, and are not some form of chemist, you really don't get much of an opinion beyond arm-chair doucheyness. As someone who has experimented with both alcohol and pot, I'm telling you, alcohol has a much worse affect right off the bat than pot. Let's say there's a drunk guy and a high guy. I'd far sooner let the high guy drive. I say this from experience, which the cheese cake obviously lacks.

Seriously, what goverment would have such disrespect and lack of dignity to pass something like this? If my goverment were to do such a thing, I would leave the country.

You do not compromise with criminals, you arrest them. Such scum in humanity should be severly punished.

LMAO.

Did you actually read anything about what is happening?

The COURT not the government believes the current laws to be unconstitutional because the government has failed to be able to consistently produce the quantity and quality of weed that is required for legal Rx. And keep in mind, the process to get a legal script here is tougher than in the US, the doctor's approval must also be approved by the government or an oversite agency in a number of provinces. Since the drugs is out there but the government is incapable of filling the need, the court believes the law is illegal. They were given a chance to fix the problem (clarifying the law or fixing supply) before this court date but so far have done nothing.

I think this is a good idea. If a drug is legal, it can be managed. Those who use drugs shouldn't be treated as criminals. Locking them up doesn't work. So why not give them a safe legal way to use, and carefully monitor them? That gets rid of the drug gangs and other criminal elements that thrive around illegal drugs. Also, once it's legal, it can be taxed, bringing in money that can be used for good. After all, alcohol, tobacco and coffee are all legal, and they are all classed as drugs and addictive, and can do a lot of harm. Marijuana looks positively healthy compared to tobacco.

SwagBite:Legalizing pot and taking Oxycodone off the market? March is gonna be a great month...

Oxy is being pulled by the manufacturer. In a scummy move last year the manufacturer introduced a new formula that is harder to abuse in powder form in the US and decided Canada could use up the US & Can supply of the old dangerous stuff for a couple years. They have no realized that they have a rather large liability problem now that the news is out so they are also switching us to the new formula.

Jimmybobjr:What happened to you, canada? you used to be cool. I used to always dream of going to canada. But not anymore.

Drugs mess up people. One of my friends was one of them. Seriously. I hope this falls straight down.

Eh, not necessarily. Drug dealers, etc. tend to grow different variations of pot than what will be legalized. Stuff that's been changed to make it more potent, and it's that stuff that has the ill effects. What will be legalized will be standard unaltered marijuana, which is the stuff shown to have some positive effects, and relatively little in the way of harmful effects.

Can't say I'm particularly ruffled by this. I live in an area where the act of smoking, growing for personal use, and selling to friends is basically an accepted practice, the cops don't even care anymore, if they did they'd spend all their time chasing delinquent teenagers while real criminals were on the loose.

Decriminalized possession would free up a lot of manpower in the police force, and possibly have an affect in reducing my areas embarrassing violent crime rate, but I'm really no expert, so who knows, this might be a even worse can of worms.

I just hope they're smart enough to get in on the tax side like they do with cigarettes, Light knows this country could use the cash injection, and taxing fools who want to waste their money smoking themselves stupid is fine by me.

Really, if you haven't smoked pot, and are not some form of chemist, you really don't get much of an opinion beyond arm-chair doucheyness. As someone who has experimented with both alcohol and pot, I'm telling you, alcohol has a much worse affect right off the bat than pot. Let's say there's a drunk guy and a high guy. I'd far sooner let the high guy drive. I say this from experience, which the cheese cake obviously lacks.

I agree. Unmodified pot is very safe as drugs go, and both tobacco and alcohol are MUCH more detrimental to your health... not sure about letting somebody high drive. Slower reflexes and shorter attention span.. not to mention the possibility of spacing out. Then again, I've never had trouble getting my mind together if I needed to.

harder drugs do tend to have a much more hierarchical distribution method because there's a lot more money at play and the addiction/withdrawal factors are severely stronger.

for casual pot smokers the line between "user" and "dealer" is incredibly fluid. tons of smokers will "sell" but it's not like a job or even a profit-earning endeavor, it's just how the supply chain works.

if you want to have a keg party, most times one person will get the keg and the cost will later be redistributed down to the other drinkers. you wouldn't call that guy a beer pusher, would you?

Seriously, what goverment would have such disrespect and lack of dignity to pass something like this? If my goverment were to do such a thing, I would leave the country.

You do not compromise with criminals, you arrest them. Such scum in humanity should be severly punished.

So you see me as a criminal because I smoke pot now and then? A drug which is probably no more harmful than alcohol or smoking. Hell I don't even drink or smoke (can't drink, not a fan of becoming addicted to nicotine).

OT: I see it as a good thing, like DragonFae said, it allows pot to be managed in the same way cigarettes and alcohol are. (although pot will probably be more restricted than those)

Jove:I'm probably gonna get a lot of hate for this but i think we should legalize weed and ban nicotine/cigirettes. At least weed doesn't kill you.

Well no hate coming your way from me but I do think that would be a bad move. Tobacco would just survive the same way weed does and without some form of regulations being used to control it you'd get a lot more harmful stuff mixed in. Which is precisely the reason I would like weed legalised. It still does have some downsides (mostly to do with memory from what little I've read) but it's better than shoving a MacDonald's down your throat every day so yeah, educate people then let them make their own decisions.

harder drugs do tend to have a much more hierarchical distribution method because there's a lot more money at play and the addiction/withdrawal factors are severely stronger.

for casual pot smokers the line between "user" and "dealer" is incredibly fluid. tons of smokers will "sell" but it's not like a job or even a profit-earning endeavor, it's just how the supply chain works.

if you want to have a keg party, most times one person will get the keg and the cost will later be redistributed down to the other drinkers. you wouldn't call that guy a beer pusher, would you?

I guess not. But my thing is that I am against Marijania. Period. But that is also the same thing for other illegals and smoking tobacco. I am somewhat against Alchohol and smokeless tobacco too, but alchohol, if taken in small amounts, has little to no effect on the drinker and with smokeless, well, at least your the only one poisoning yourself.

Yeah, it's illegal for political and economical reasons, not because it's more harmful than any other legal substance. It's possibly even less harmful than what your government allows to be put into the your food and drink. The only thing legalizing it will change is that the substance will be properly regulated.

OT: I honestly don't care at all. I do not smoke either pot or tobacco, I do not intend to ever do so and I am not Canadian so it wont affect me in the slightest. I guess it benefits Canada in a good way though seeing as they get a new branch of economy to support the country's financial state, still that doesn't affect me so I see no reason to feel anything.